A Design Student’s Thoughts
I was browsing Marc Hummel’s blog today, and came across a post of his that caught my attention:
Going to School for a Career in Graphic Design is a Joke
(For me, anyway.) I started off as a super-enthusiastic student… staying up
late to work on assignments, reading everything I could about design. I either
got burnt out or a heavy dose of reality: graphic design is just not for me.
During my last semester studying design I would struggle to work on every
project I was given, perpetually putting them off in favor of listening to NPR
or re-writing the copy in the very project I was avoiding. I spent days working
on my art history paper. The visual thesaurus was my favorite tool. I enjoyed
my English classes the best, by far. The dormant writer in me was active and
craving attention.
Going to school for something like painting or graphic design stifles the
very creativity it’s supposed to invoke. It’s not that I can’t handle the constant
critiques, but that I feel so much more free to make good, meaningful work
when no one’s looking; telling me what a client would say or to make it more
“sellable”. Perhaps it’s a sign of low-self esteem that I couldn’t shake the advice,
or that it’s hard for me to work for others. But I think it’s also my self-seriousness
and wanting to do well, wanting to impress a professor and my classmates, that
created expected, boring work. Maybe it was an acknowledgment of risk in
making fresh work but without the motivation to suck it up.
Or maybe I’m just full of shit and it really just comes down to this:
-I’m a good graphic designer, but I don’t think I can be a great one
-I’m a good writer, and I think I can be great
I think it’s easy to become disgruntled about design when you’re learning it, I did too. If possible, it’s important to get as much outside, real-work experience as soon as possible so you can see if the real design world is really for you. After all, an education in design barely equates to a career in design in terms of what it’s really like.
I was much the same as Marc when I was studying design: stuck between a world of writing and a world of design, and not knowing which one I would prefer. When I finally got into the design world proper, I often combine the two skills.
If I could give you any advice Marc I’d say don’t give up just yet. Keep your options open. You never know what will happen.
Nice topic you have started.